44 additional Customer Relationship Management products were named Runners Up for Q3 2016

This FrontRunners analysis is a data-driven assessment identifying products in the Customer Relationship Management software market that offer the best capability and value for small businesses. For a given market, products are evaluated and given a score for the capability (x-axis) and value (y-axis) they bring to users. FrontRunners then plots the top 25-30 products in a quadrant format.

In the Customer Relationship Management FrontRunners infographic above, the Capability axis starts at 3.60 and ends at 4.60, while the Value axis starts at 3.60 and ends at 4.70. Scales may differ between quadrants in order to capture the relative positioning of the specific products in each category.

All products that qualify as FrontRunners are top performing products in their market. The quadrant positions a product relative to its peers in the market. Each product falls within a designated quadrant based on their axis scores. Dependent on the specific needs of the software buyer, a product placed in any quadrant category could be a good fit. Each quadrant category has a distinct description for placement.

Upper Right = Leaders: Leaders are all-around strong products. They offer the highest value and capability in that market.

Upper Left = Masters: Masters may have fewer capabilities, but end users value those capabilities highly. Depending on the functionality needed, a product positioned in the Masters quadrant might be a better option to consider than products positioned in other quadrants.

Lower Right = Pacesetters: Pacesetters may offer a strong set of capabilities, but are not rated as high on value. For example, a Pacesetter might have a breadth of functionality at a higher price point.

Lower Left = Contenders: Contenders are strong-performing products that have not yet achieved the Value and Capability of the products in the other quadrants. For example, products in this quadrant may be more suited for companies that need more specialized functionality that comes at a price.

FrontRunners Methodology

The FrontRunners methodology assesses and calculates a score for products on two primary dimensions: Capability on the x-axis and Value on the y-axis.

The Capability score is an overall weighted average of scores including:

End user one to five star ratings on the product’s functionality.

End user one to five star ratings on the product’s ease of use.

End user one to five star ratings on the product’s customer support.

A score, relative to other products in the market, for the product's inclusion of key functionality for the software category.

A score, relative to other products in the market, representing the number of other products that integrate with it.

The Value score is an overall weighted average of scores including:

End user one to five star ratings on overall satisfaction with the product.

End user one to five star ratings on how valuable users consider the product to be relative to its price.

End user one to five rating on how likely they are to recommend the product to others.

A score, relative to other products in the market, for the size of the product's customer base.

A score, relative to other products in the market, for the number of professionals in the market who have experience with the product (e.g., users, developers, administrators).

A score, relative to other products in the market, representing the total number of user reviews across the three Gartner web properties.

A score, relative to other products in the market, representing the average number of times per month internet users search for the product on Google.

Markets are defined by a core set of functionality, and products considered for, and included in, FrontRunners must offer that core set of functionality. Additional related functionality can contribute to the capability score for a product. To qualify for consideration in FrontRunners for a software category, a product must have at least 10 unique user-submitted product reviews across the three Gartner Digital Markets web properties: softwareadvice.com, capterra.com and getapp.com.

More Methodology Details

The FrontRunners methodology assesses products on two primary dimensions: Capability on the x-axis and Value on the y-axis. Products receive a score between one and five for each axis. Products that meet a minimum score for each axis are included as FrontRunners. The minimum score cutoff to be included in the FrontRunners graphic varies by category, depending on the range of scores in each category. For products included, the Capability and Value scores determine their positions on the FrontRunners graphic.

The Capability score is based on three criteria: user ratings on capability, a functionality breadth analysis, and a business confidence assessment.

The capability user ratings criterion captures user satisfaction with the product's capabilities. The capability ratings score is a weighted average of the one to five star rating scores from three user ratings:

Functionality.

Ease of use.

Customer support.

The functionality breadth analysis is based on:

The product's coverage of core software category functions.

The number of other products integrated with it.

For each of these two data points, the methodology calculates the percentile ranking for each product relative to all other products in the software category that have qualified for FrontRunners consideration. That percentile ranking is then translated into a one to five score.

The business confidence assessment is an indicator of whether the software company is likely to continue investing in the product for the next 12-18 months. The analysis is based on four data points:

The product's current customer base.

The annual growth rate of the product's customer base.

The vendor's current employee base.

The annual growth rate of the vendor's employee base.

If the company's size and product's customer base are both significant and growing, then the likelihood that the business will invest in the product is higher than in the alternative scenarios. For each of these four data points, the methodology calculates the percentile ranking for each product relative to all other products in the software category that have qualified for FrontRunners consideration. That percentile ranking is then translated to a one to five score.

The overall one to five Capability score is a weighted average of the scores for user ratings, functionality breadth and business confidence.

The Value score is based on two criteria: user ratings on value and product adoption.

The value user ratings criterion captures users' satisfaction with the business value provided by the product. The value ratings score is a weighted average of the one to five star rating scores from three user ratings:

Overall ratings of the product.

How likely users are to recommend the product to others.

How valuable users consider the product to be relative to its price.

The product adoption data analysis assesses if the product is positioned in the market as more of an industry standard with higher adoption (thus earning a higher score), or as an emerging competitor with more limited adoption (thus earning a lower score). The product adoption methodology analysis for each product is based on four data points:

The size of the product's customer base.

The number of professionals in the market who have experience with the product (e.g., users, developers, administrators).

The total number of user reviews across the three Gartner web properties.

The average number of times per month internet users search for the product on Google.

For each of these four data points, the methodology calculates the percentile ranking for each product relative to all other products in the software category that have qualified for FrontRunners consideration. That percentile ranking is then translated into a one to five score.

The overall one to five Value score is a weighted average of the scores for value user ratings and product adoption.

Data

Data sources include user reviews and ratings, public data sources and data from technology vendors. The user-generated product reviews data incorporated into FrontRunners is collected from submissions to all three Gartner Digital Markets sites (softwareadvice.com, capterra.com and getapp.com). As a quality check, we ensure the reviewer is valid, that the review meets quality standards and that it is not a duplicate.

The business confidence and product adoption data comes from public sources, collected by either a third-party data provider or by Gartner associates. As a quality check, we compare this data against data submitted by the providers. We use this data to calculate a product's percentile ranking, which allows us to determine how products compare relative to one another rather than determine an absolute number.

The functionality breadth data is collected from the technology providers. We check the data provided and challenge data that seems inflated or unlikely. We use this data to calculate a product's percentile ranking, which allows us to determine how products compare relative to one another rather than determine an absolute number.

Providers must abide by the FrontRunners External Use Guidelines when referencing FrontRunners content. Except in digital media with character limitations, the following disclaimer MUST appear with any/all FrontRunners reference(s) and graphic use:

FrontRunners scores and graphics are derived from individual end-user reviews based on their own experiences, vendor-supplied information and publicly available product information; they do not represent the views of Gartner or its affiliates.

Runners Up

Providers listed as a Runners Up were eligible for inclusion in the FrontRunners quadrant, including having 10+ product reviews, but their value or capability axis score was not high enough for positioning on the FrontRunners quadrant.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is the process of managing an organization’s interactions throughout the entire customer life cycle. CRM software applications support the automation of these processes and best practices.

Note: This page focuses on general CRM systems. If you're looking for customer service-oriented software, check out our guide here.

An Overview of CRM Software

CRM systems vary widely in capabilities, pricing and underlying technology, from basic contact management to sophisticated enterprise suites for sales, service and marketing, to platforms that foster customer connections. Moreover, the market includes industry-specific CRM solutions (e.g., real estate or pharmaceutical sales) and best-of-breed solutions for specific CRM functions (e.g., field service or help desk).

We developed this guide to complement our CRM reviews. The following sections will help potential purchasers find the best customer relationship management software package for their business:

What Is CRM Software?

The primary purpose of CRM software, sometimes known as contact management software, is to consolidate customer information into one repository, so users can better organize and manage relationships. Additionally, these applications automate common processes and provide tools for monitoring performance and productivity. Systems vary, but the best CRM software will include at least the following four core functions:

Customer data management. Most products provide a searchable database to store customer information (such as contact information) and relevant documents (such as sales proposals and contracts). While most general CRMs offer this functionality, it can also be incorporated into other industry-specific systems. For example, customer management is a core component of salon management software, which is described in more detail here.

Interaction tracking. These systems document conversations held by phone, in person, through live chat, email or other channels. These interactions can be logged manually, or automated with phone and email system integrations. Depending on the product, some systems can also track interactions on Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms.

Workflow automation. This standardizes business processes, usually through a combination of task lists, calendars, alerts and templates. Once a task is checked off as complete, for example, the system might automatically set a task for the next step in the process.

Reporting.Management can use these CRM tools to track performance and productivity based on activities logged in the CRM system—for instance, how many new contacts were added to the database that day, or how much revenue was generated. These tools can also be used for forecasting, such as for the next-quarter sales pipeline.

A Comparison of Top CRM Solutions

There are many popular CRM solutions on the market, and it can be hard to understand what distinguishes one product from another and which is right for you. To help you better understand how the top CRM systems stack up against one another, we created a series of side-by-side product comparison pages that break down the details of what each solution offers in terms of pricing, applications, ease of use, support and more:

CRM in Action: A Use Case

Let’s say you currently store customer contact information in Excel spreadsheets, appointments in a calendar and files in Dropbox, Google Drive or another document management tool. When someone calls, you have to toggle between each of these tools to figure out whether they’re a prospect or existing customer. Worse, you don’t immediately know if they’ve spoken to anyone else in your company. Past interactions might be trapped in someone’s inbox, paper notes or only in employees' memories.

Depending on where this caller is in the customer life cycle, not having this information in one place can lengthen their time to conversion, limit return sale possibilities or slow issue resolution.

If you had automation software in this scenario, you could simply pull up that account and see every meeting, phone or email conversation you or your team has ever had with that person, as well as past agreements and marketing materials sent. You might also see, for example, a contract attached to that opportunity that’s awaiting signature and a task for one of your sales reps to follow up. So you transfer the call.

A contact profile in Swiftpage ACT!

After the sales rep hangs up with the contact, he might close the task to follow up, then pick the next step in the process from a dropdown menu: “Did they return the contract?” The due date for this task is set for the next day, when the rep will receive an alert to follow up if the agreement isn’t returned.

You can see how this alternative scenario increases efficiency and productivity. And it prevents important activities from falling through the cracks. Managers benefit, too, by having ready access to reports that show key performance metrics and progress toward goals.

Reporting dashboard in Infor CRM

This scenario described core functionality, but these technologies are also widely used in a broad range of CRM applications. Below is a brief explanation of each of these application types.

Common Functionality of CRM Software

When comparing CRM software solutions, it’s important to understand the functionality included in each. The most common functions in this type of software are listed in the table below:

Market Trends to Understand

As you compare CRM software, it’s important you keep the following industry trends in mind.

Social CRM. The biggest trend is the convergence of customer relationship management and social networking technologies, loosely referred to as “Social CRM.” In fact, five top industry analysts have predicted this trend as having the biggest impact on how customer tracking software programs evolves.

Today, this intersection of social and client management software can be as simple as adding Facebook data to customer profiles. Or it can be more complex, with niche social media analytics products that tap into social APIs and generate leads, mine for customer sentiment or traffic and prioritize social customer service requests.

An example of a social media stream with contact details from Radian6

Mobile CRM.Mobile applications for customer relationship management are becoming increasingly sophisticated and popular. These tools don’t just port functions to a mobile interface—top CRM software vendors will offer apps that leverage the unique capabilities of mobile devices, such as GPS and voice (click here for a more detailed description of common iPad CRM features).

An outside sales rep could, for example, pull up a map of their current location and see pinpoints for accounts in that area. Or, a customer service rep might have the ability to speak a query into their mobile app, rather than try and type everything out on a tiny smartphone keyboard.

Pricing: Web-Based vs. On-Premise

In 1999, Salesforce.com entered the market as the first major player in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) CRM space. Today, a majority of CRM products—particularly those built for small businesses—are now SaaS solutions, though on-premise options still exist. The deployment method you choose should be a key consideration when conducting your CRM software comparison. Pricing between these two models usually (but not always) differs in the following ways:

Cloud-based software, also called Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), is typically priced on a subscription basis determined by the number of “seats” (sales reps, support agents, field technicians etc. who need to access the software). This type of software is housed off-site on servers managed by the software company. Because the software is delivered in a Web-browser, it can be a great option for Mac-based offices. For additional details on Mac CRM options, visit this guide.

On-premise customer management systems usually require purchasing a perpetual license upfront, with no recurring subscription cost. But users might also pay additionally for upgrades, customizations or maintenance. This software is housed on the buyers’ servers.

Recent Events You Should Know About

Salesforce acquires MinHash. In December 2015, Salesforce acquired MinHash, a small startup that specializes in marketing intelligence. MinHash’s platform was designed to crawl the Internet, pull out relevant trends for marketers and help them construct campaigns around those trends.

NetSuite acquires Bronto. In June 2015, NetSuite Inc. announced its acquisition of Bronto Software Inc., a cloud-based marketing software provider. Andy Lloyd, general manager of commerce products at NetSuite says, “Together, this technology can help brands to deliver relevant and consistent digital commerce experiences throughout the customer journey.”